Residents press council for study, moratorium as city advances data‑center overlay study
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Summary
Public commenters raised water, noise and landscape concerns about a proposed 900‑acre data‑center site; city economic development staff says the site is power‑ready, expects about 195 permanent jobs and will pursue an overlay zoning district and public review before council votes.
Residents urged caution at the Feb. 24 Columbus City Council meeting as staff outlined early work on a proposed large data‑center site and on a technology overlay district that would set local standards for such projects.
Casey Burdett told council she and many constituents want more complete risk and impact assessments before the city commits to large data centers. “We simply need more information on the long term impacts of data centers before we have the reason to buy into it,” Burdett said in public comment, citing concerns about energy use, water consumption, noise and effects on natural waterways.
Troy Keller urged a 90– to 180‑day moratorium on approvals to allow time for study, citing a reported proposal called “Ruby,” described in public comment as a $5 billion hyperscale project. He said data centers change landscape and infrastructure needs and can add pressure to energy and water systems.
Missy Kendrick, executive with Choose Columbus leading the city’s outreach, provided technical details and a timeline for review. She said the prospective site covers about 900 acres on the county border, was purchased by Habitat Partners and is being developed with Atlas. A power transmission study identified adequate capacity on lines served by Flint Energies (an EMC under Oglethorpe Power). Kendrick said the city is not offering incentives and that the developer would pay infrastructure costs; staff estimated roughly $30 million to run water and sewer lines to the site.
Addressing water concerns, Kendrick told council the Columbus water system is permitted for about 90 million gallons per day and current use is roughly 30–31 million gallons. She said a full build‑out of the data‑center project would be expected to use about 330,000 gallons per day and that data‑center effluent must be pretreated to Columbus Waterworks standards before return to the system.
Kendrick described expected employment figures as roughly 1,500 construction jobs during buildout and about 195 permanent operations jobs paying in the $80,000–$120,000 range. She also said the city is drafting overlay‑district language to address setbacks, lighting and noise requirements and that planning and zoning would review the draft before it returns to council; the planning advisory commission was named as the likely next forum (scheduled for March 4 in the meeting discussion).
Council members and the city attorney described the overlay district as a floating tool that can be applied to parcels without changing underlying zoning, and they reiterated multiple public hearings would follow before any rezoning or site approval. Several residents, including speakers who opposed the project, said they want more public engagement and independent subject‑matter input before the council approves overlay language or any rezoning requests.
No council vote on rezoning or overlay language occurred at this meeting; staff said they will continue public meetings with subject‑matter experts and bring overlay language to planning and zoning for review.
